Dear Friends,
Human potential is a terrible thing to waste. God has placed within each of us a certain capacity for showing up in a way that can result in improving the human condition. And that capacity differs from one person to the next.
Potential is something we must steward for it to be realized. And stewardship requires taking responsibility for what we have been given. It requires using that responsibility to grow what we have been given for the benefit of others.
Stewardship starts with some level of awareness of what I have been given. But then I must be intentional with that. I must give careful thought about where and how to best apply my time and energy. And when I do take action based on this careful thought, I must apply diligence and discipline, employing some level of accountability so the fruit of my action results in bringing good for me and others – in other words, the world is improved if only a little.
If I have any one regret it would be in the area of how I have failed at times to apply myself for realizing the potential God has placed inside me. To be sure, I have given diligence to this matter in various ways and over stretches of time in my life. And all that has born good fruit of which I am incredibly grateful. But I also look back over the course of my life and see opportunities and time squandered.
However, I refuse to let that regret discourage and derail me from the course yet set before me. We each have been allotted a certain number of days in this life. And if we are still breathing air, those days have not come to an end, yet. So, forgetting what is behind, here is a prayer and two questions we may all want to periodically revisit:
“Teach us to number our days aright that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Psalm 90:12
What have I been given? How am I stewarding what I have been given in a way it is growing for the good of others and the glory of God?
Blessings and growth!